MAY DAY (OF., Fr. mai, from T.at. llamas; efinneeted with (11.al. tnejas. great, Lat. 11111111111g, Ilk. e(-yes. megas. (Inti!. mikils. great. Skt. malt, to lie great). The name popularly given to the first 'lay of Nlay, whit+ among the Germanic and Latin people has been associated from an early period with festal ceremonies religions in origin. it was the en?tnin on this day to start before dawn. make exenrs' to the woods and fields. and return laden with green flowering. bosighs. It is plain that this festival, which was eelebrated by all classes alike, represented the continuance of all ancient pagan ceremony; and there seems to be good reason tor regarding it as a survival of rites originally offered to the Roman goddess Maia, who was evidently wor shiped as the principle and cause of fertility. Although recorded testimony does not enable us to reconstruct the details of her ceremony, it is probable that one essential feature was a ritual marriage to a partner who represented the male element of growth, whence arose habitual acts of license. which were not repugnant to early moral sentiment, but which under a stricter ethical code gave occasion for scandal. Songs and dances, which were usual on similar occa sions, and are reminiscent of the same spirit, have continued in popular use to our Own day. as the familiar English game of children, "Here Oats, peas, beans, and barley grows." The actual basis of May Day seems to have been the Roman Floralia, celebrated April 28, and instituted at Rome, in the year B.C. 241, on account of a bad harvest. Flora (q.v.), to whom the feast was consecrated, was likewise a fertility goddess. and it may be taken for granted that the ele ments of her rite were similar to customs which had previonslybeen associated with Alaia. Among observances of the Floralia are mentioned gay costumes, dramatic performances, and dances de scrihed as frequently indecent. In the medixval May festival an important feature consisted in a nocturnal expedition to the forest, whence branches were brought and afterwards attached to doors. The hushes brought home were planted in the streets, and a lover might thus honor the residence of his mistress. Corresponding to this
act of 'bringing in the May,' it was usual for the young men of the village to fetch from the wood a tree, the tallest and straightest which could be procured. This was stripped of its boughs, planted in the public green, decorated with garlands and ribands, painted with gay stripes, and became the centre of dances and games having for the most part an amatory char acter. The tree thus obtained, as well as the branches of individual celebrants, were called simply 'the May:' in England the white-flower ing hawthorn, especially, received this title. A 'May-pole,' once introduced, might remain for many years, and annually he made the focus of popular amusements. With the season continued to be associated theatrical performances. These were frequently of a comic nature, and might be crowded with local jests and personal allu sions often of a scurrilous sort, as may be seen from the pastoral of Adam (le la Halle. he fee de Robin et de Marion, eompo:ed in the thir teenth century for use on such an occasion. In England the story of Robin Hood was connected with the May-games, and the personages of his cycle were introduced into the performances of costumed or masked actors. called 'Morris (lan cers.' In the Highlands of Scotland and Ire land the first of May received the name of Bel tan (q.v.). and was originally. no doubt, an inde pendent ceremony. Customs analogous to May Day are widespread. Among the Russians there is a spring festival, celebrated by the boys and girls with a choral dance called Iihoro•od. (See SLAVONIC Music.) The European spring-tide feast seems to have come from the Orient, where orgiastic merriment was common in the spring. So in modern India the Holi festival is celebrated in :Nlarell or April, with the singing of songs obscene, and with the sprinkling with red powder and water or with filth. The nat uralistic basis of the custom is joy at the cre ative impulses felt in the spring and manifested both in the vegetable and animal world. Bence comes the erotic character of the songs and dances, while the May-pole itself is probably phallic in origin. See Pusweissi.